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How good is your talent decision-making?
Recently I met up with a long term friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen in many years. Our lives had taken different paths since we were at university together. Although we both travelled, I came back to Australia after a couple of years and he did not. He pursued a career in professional services…
Read MoreThe unemployed: Sending 29 million job applications your way
Could there be a worse time to be unemployed in Australia? The plethora of statistics and policies released in the past month would suggest not. Earlier this week the Australian LNP Federal Government, through the Assistant Employment Minister, Luke Hartsuyker announced their new proposed AUD$5.1 billion jobs placement program and expansion of the…
Read MoreLessons in success: Tiger Woods
Originally published in Insight 108 on 18 November, 2009 In case you were visiting Mars or Saturn last week, you may not have realised that the world’s best golfer was in Australia. The Victorian Government took a deep breath and stumped up the $3 million appearance fee necessary to entice Tiger Woods…
Read MoreDo your clients really know what you do for them?
The recruitment industry is an easy and constant target for the cynics and critics of our sector. ‘Body shop merchants’, ‘charlatans’ and ‘rip off artists’ are probably some of the more printable labels hung on us. Why does this happen? Unmet or mismanaged customer expectations would be a reasonable summary of the many complaints some…
Read MoreProjected US job growth until 2022: health care swamps everything
Although there are clearly large differences between the US and the Australian workforces (the sheer size for starters; the US employed non-farm workforce is 138.7 million compared to Australia’s total employed workforce of 11.6 million) there’s still something to be gained in seeing what interesting data the US Bureau of Labor Statistics throws up.…
Read MoreThe Flanagan/Myer resume fraud: what have we learned?
The case of the mysterious Andrew Flanagan becomes more intriguing as further information is uncovered. Certainly the mainstream media have had a field day, providing plenty of expanded coverage in the days after Mr Flanagan’s deception was first uncovered. Here’s what else we know, thanks to the investigative efforts of various Fairfax Media, Smart Company, and News Corporation journalists,…
Read MoreMyer sacks lying executive on his first day: How were they duped?
It was a highly embarrassing day for Myer this past Tuesday. After announcing the previous Thursday that ‘Andrew Flanagan, has been appointed group general manager for strategy and business development’, Myer confirmed on Tuesday that Flanagan had been fired after it was revealed that he was not, as reported, “formerly managing director and Asia-Pacific vice-president…
Read MoreSoft free kicks in the media continue for ‘internet recruitment entrepreneurs’
The resources-stretched mainstream media are always a sucker for the latest ‘internet entrepreneur’ hoping to put a dent in the traditional recruitment industry. If you are a young female entrepreneur with the older blokes in private equity backing you, then all the better. This week former Bain & Company associate-turned-entrepreneur Bridget Loudon was the beneficiary…
Read MoreHow many interviews does it take to hire top talent?
At the Australasian Talent Conference last month, I attended an interesting break out session on the future of interviewing and whether assessment would make interviews redundant. The panel made plenty of interesting points in response to questions and comments. Unsurprisingly nobody was predicting the end of interviews any time soon. One of the excellent points…
Read MoreNew Zealand’s economy leaves Australia in its wake
While Australia bemoans a massive Budget deficit and deep cuts to many areas of science, welfare and education, our cousins across the Tasman are finding things are much rosier. Courtesy of information from Statistics New Zealand and Deloitte Access Economics, here’s a summary of the current New Zealand economy: Economic growth prospects are suddenly looking…
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